Windy Meadows Farm

01/12/2025

Lesson from the farm #17: Grow
(Originally written in 2024)

I love morning glory flowers. My grandmother used to have them on her fence and they just amused me. So, I had to find a way to add them around my home. With them being a vine, I needed to find or make a place for them to climb without getting into trouble.

Last year, we had some return and then some pop up elsewhere. This year, the same has happened. One little sprout showed up in one of the cracks in my rock wall. I don't know how that little bo**er found any version of soil down in there, but it did. It has been growing and spreading just like all the others. That wee plant has some tenacity!

Jesus loved teaching using growth/seed parables. He spoke about reaping what we sow and how different soil types produce different yields. But, this also got me to thinking. It is easy to grow and flourish in healthy soil. It is easy to keep your happiness and faith when all is sunshine and rainbows.

Most everyone has had times in their lives that are far from fun. Debt, deaths, loneliness, illnesses, hormones, etc. So many things about this life can easily drag us down. Sometimes we get blown around by the winds of life and we land in rocky places much like this little morning glory seed. However, it didn't give up. It didn't just see the darkness under the rocks and quit. It didn't pop its head out and see that the other plants had more sun or were growing faster. It put on its big boy pants and grew. It dug those tiny roots in and grew.

We need to remember to grow wherever we are planted. Whether we acknowledge it or not, God doesn't just plant us in life randomly. He has a purpose for us and sometimes that purpose is to reach someone else who is also down in the trenches. Sometimes those rocky spells in our lives are the only way our stubborn human minds can learn a particular lesson. Sometimes we need to realize that happiness and joy are two different things.

Happiness is temporary. You can be happy in the morning, but that happiness ends really fast when you get a flat tire or fired from a job. Joy is deeper than that. We can be miserable at our job and still have joy that we are God's children. We can have joy that we have the opportunity to go to Heaven. We can have joy that we can live forever in a place free from pain, sadness, sickness and so so SO much better than the life we are living now. We can have joy that these times where we are in the rocks of life are only temporary.

So wherever you are planted, don't forget to grow.

11/11/2025

02/11/2025

I hate it. I hate it SO much!

02/11/2025

Productive, beautiful, and sad day today for me. Took down the Halloween decorations, did a season ending mowing and weedeating, had a quick but good lunch date with the hubby, started feeding hay to the critters, and did random other things while enjoying the beautiful weather.

The one thing I missed a lot was that for over a decade now, on on November 1st, I have moved the bucks in with their selected does so that in April, a herd of bouncing kids will be delivered upon the farm to entertain us all. It is a joy that makes you smile before you even realize it, and it captivates you wholly. No mood can battle baby goats jumping around with wreckless abandon.

But, alas, we decided that we can't risk breeding a dozen more mouths to feed. We still have a couple wethers from three years ago. We still have two doelings left from this year and we have never had a doeling even make it to twelve weeks old without a home lined up. The market just isn't where it used to be.... but at least today was a beautiful day and I lived it.

31/10/2025

Here is your yearly reminder that if you have unpainted, unmoldy, unwanted pumpkins cluttering your porch or yard, I know some girls that can handle that for you lickitysplit!

27/10/2025

First batch of fire cider started! Also started a goldenrod tincture yesterday.

27/10/2025

Lessons from the farm #16: There but not there.

(Originally written in 2024)

Last night a little after 10 p.m., I was alerted to a cacophony of song dogs, also known as coyotes. There was a whole pack of them and they were in the bottom pasture. Coyotes can be dangerous to full sized goats, but kids are a prime target for an easy snack. Startling my hubster a bit, I quickly got up and evacuated the room post haste. Once I got in a spot to clearly hear all the ruckus, I started trying to count, trying to judge by the echos in the darkness where they were and in what direction they might be moving. Then in the sheet of darkness, I heard other voices... deep voices.... it was the guardians. One was closer to the barn, probably where the does and their kids were stashed. The other was at the back edge of the pasture. I have seen them work as a team like this before, but never had to imagine it off sound alone. While they were barking incessantly, they only did for maybe ten seconds. They weren't moving while barking. The first time I heard them, they were already in their positions. They knew the coyotes were making their move and planned accordingly.... silently... until they weren't. It took just a few seconds of their warning before every single coyote voice vanished. Before long, it was silent again and I returned to the hubby. My protection was not needed.

Earlier, as I scrolled through my recent baby goat photos, I started to notice a trend. Somewhere near every new baby or laboring mom, there was a big white fluffball. She never seemed troubled and usually wasn't paying a lick of attention to the activities themselves. They weren't being aloof. They weren't just sunbathing. They were watching the treeline, the horizon, or even the other kids stumble around. They were protecting, guarding. While that mother and her kids were in pain, confused, vulnerable, and weak, they weren't in true danger. Their guardian was with them. They were probably completely unaware, but they were safe, protected, and always being watched over.

For me personally, the hardest part about having and keeping faith in God is that he doesn't speak to me. I know we have His word in the Bible and He says everything we need in that book. I don't know about you, but I have had many moments in my life where I felt alone. I felt like I was in darkness and I was reaching out for His hand..... and finding nothing... I wanted an answer. I wanted confirmation. I wanted guidance. Not feeling His hand or hearing His voice left me scared.

But He was there. He is always there. When we are surrounded by darkness, He is keeping the coyotes at bay during our time of doubt. Why do we often have such strength in faith when all is well, but as soon as life or the Devil rear their defiant head, we blame Him for leaving us? He doesn't leave. He is always there.. EVERYWHERE!!!! During sunny beautiful day, He is there. We know He is and accept it. No questions asked. But when we are struggling and blinded by our human-ness, we don't know where He is. When we sleep peacefully but the wolves are all around us closing in, He is already there and ready to fight. When we feel like we are reaching out for Him, but can't find Him, He is fighting in the darkness. His mission is to protect us. We are the most important things in His existence. Our guardian will fight.... will die.... HAS already died for us. Surely we can be smarter than my goats and trust a bit more in our guardian.

26/10/2025

Lessons from the farm #15: Weary Winners

(Originally written in 2023)

For as long as I remember, my father has had a friend. You know, one of those friends that no longer has the Mr. or Mrs. prefix, but has earned the Uncle or Aunt title instead. Well, that uncle has a cattle herd and uses horses to manage them. These horses not only work, but they competed in the show ring too. These horses were beyond well trained. They knew their job and they did it with all their heart.

Well, when I was about twelve years old, we went down to Florida to visit this uncle and that always included a day on the farm. Being a typical horse crazy girl, this was my favorite part. During the last visit a year or so earlier, I was given a beautiful buckskin mare to ride that day, but she was a bit too spicy for me and I was getting nervous so someone switched horses with me. This visit, I was ready for the spicy one. Oh, I was ready. Fast was the only speed I knew. Luckily enough, I got that same mare again.

That mare and I ran hither and thither all over their sprawling farm. I said go and she went. It was a blast! When it was time for lunch, I rode back to the trailer and hopped off. The problem was that when I dismounted, she about fell over. See, I did not know that these horses never stop on their own. They learned to work so if the rider said run, they ran and they did not stop until the rider told them to. So when I was frolicking around with wreckless abandon, I didn't know she was willing to die for her rider. I didn't know that she had had a foal a few months before and had been off that whole time so she wasn't in shape and she definitely wasn't prepared for a free-spirited, pr***en, Calamity Jane wannabe. Poor thing was so tired that she stumbled as I removed her saddle. I felt so sorry that I didn't ride the rest of the day and stayed with her checking on her several more times to make sure she didn't tie up. No doubt she was a prime example of the word "weary". (For those concerned readers, the next time we returned, this mare had given birth just the night before to a beautiful little filly and both were totally healthy.)

Life on or off the farm, can make anyone weary. When the money tree burned to the ground, but the bills keep coming. When there is a pain coursing through your body that no one can see or even explain, but the responsibilities of life still just keep on demanding your service. When going to work, cleaning the house, or even getting out of bed seems out of your ability. Life makes us weary.

Sometimes, I think that is the point of life; to make us weary. Without bad days, we don't truly appreciate the good. If everyday was sunshine and rainbows, the rainbows wouldn't be so special.

The cool thing about God is that He knows literally everything past, present, and future. He knows He will win in the end and everyone with Him. He also knows that the life we are asked to live on this earth is not easy. It isn't just long and confusing, it will make us weary. Even the best of us that seem to do everything right will stumble. Our legs will tremble and it will feel like we will never catch our breath. The poor mare was saddled with a horse crazy little girl on her back while we are saddled with pain, sadness, confusion, disappointment, self doubt, and everything else life can shove in the saddlebags.

But we need to trust. We need to keep on trudging along no matter how weary we get. I know at times that is a BIG ask. Remembering that we can win in the end, is easily forgotten. Having faith in someone we can't physically see, touch, or have a conversation with can be beyond all reason. He tells us not to become weary of doing good. Having faith like that is so difficult, but it is so worth it. He told us so.

25/10/2025

Lessons from the farm #14: Choices

(Originally written in 2023)

When one chooses to start/own a farm, they multiply the choices and the weight of those choices they will be required to make; some little, some big. They aren't just choosing what they have for lunch, but also what their animals' diets are as well. They choose the type of fencing, the color of tack, what trough to use, etc. The choices they make can get much bigger and emotional though. When does one bring this animal to the vet for hundreds or thousands of dollars of treatment? When do they make the call to euthanize an animal? It gets deep really quick!

It isn't much different in our everyday life if we think about it. We get to choose what diet we want to follow, the clothes we wear each day. Choosing a maroon shirt won't have life threatening consequences most of the time.... unless you are going to a UT Vols football game.... However, some of our choices that seem insignificant actually aren't. Some people hoard possessions. Their choice for stuff means they are choosing stuff over their family... friends... Some choose to have one more drink before they go home, but that is choosing that drink over the lives of the children in the car they t-bone when running a red light.... Some choose the second serving of the double order bacon cheese fries, but they are actually picking carbs over any relationship with their grandchildren because they will die at a young age because of heart failure... They are choosing a night of wreakless passion over their family that they are destroying. They are choosing video/games over meaningful relationships with their spouse.. children....friends. What seems to be a simple choice, carries so much more weight than we typically see.

All choices no matter how small, have much more effect than we think in the moment. Our choices should be intentional! We have to see the long game! The world is not just us as an individual!.... but it is worth so much more.

If we choose a salad over deep fried oreos, we are choosing a long life over a fat ridden diet. That one night stand lasts way longer than just one night. You are now part of each other and all your future relationships forever. If we choose playing games fourteen hours a day, we are loosing experiences with our friends, children, and grandchildren! If we choose the forbidden, flirty online fascination, we can loose our family and damage our children's souls let alone our wife's/husband's.

Think, ponder, debate! Your smallest choices matter! Know the long game.

23/10/2025

Lessons from the farm #13, Unique Rewards

(Originally written in 2023)

We farm types are odd to the world. When most of the world craves fame, fortune, or power, farmers go off in another direction. We will never get famous by growing a carrot. Our names will ebb away into the wind within a generation or two. And if you ever mention riches to a farmer, he will laugh... like a lot... That deep belly laugh that doesn't usually make any sound besides maybe a whistling weeze when he tries to suck in some air. If a farmer and family doesn't starve and somehow is out of the red at the end of the year, it is a good year. Those differences alone make us outliers from the masses, even though the masses would starve without farmers. (Not this one! Unless there is suddenly a shortage of ants or briars, I may never be an "out of the red" farmer.)

I started thinking about the things around the farm that make me happy. There had to be some reward to daily pain, loss, and swamp ape smell and appearance. I was a bit surprised by some of the rewards we cheer about that no one but us would ever understand.

The uniquest reward I thought of was crap.. literal crap. Sure it nourishes our ground but that is not why we cheer. Especially horse owners will know this joy. There is a potentially deadly phenomenon in horses generally called colic. To quickly explain it, something is blocking the intestines. It can be a foreign object, the intestines could be twisted, there could be a growth, etc. Almost every horse owner at least knows a horse that was taken by colic if they haven't had one personally. If you are around a horse battling colic and they suddenly pop out a steaming pile of road apples, every person involved will smile and cheer. That means that the system is working and the horse is probably through the worst of it.

Most of the world will never understand why farmers seemingly do the same actions over and over again sometimes reaping nothing when a frost, disease, or blight wipes through to kill an entire herd/crop especially when they have been toiling all year on it. They don't understand the therapeutic effects of mucking stalls or building fences. They don't get it and probably never will. We are set apart.

As Christians, God calls us to be set apart. He warns that we are not to be like the world. The world will not understand us and why we do what we do. Standing on the outskirts will not be easy. It will be hard work. Sometimes it can be emotionally brutal to stay true to the course. When others are sleeping in or enjoying the lake, we will be worshipping. When others are basking in physical immediate pleasure, we are fighting our human urges with every fiber of our being. Don't get me wrong, we are still humans and we don't always win the battle of urges, but we should try and try again.

Don't read into that metaphor too far and pull out that only farmers are Christians. That is not what I am saying. I know plenty of far more godly people than I that have probably never shoveled manture or planted anything. It is just a rambling thought that both farmers and Christians have unique rewards in their sights that the world won't understand. And I think, in general, they are both totally okay with that. Halter breaking a single IQ heifer is insanely frustrating, but home grown steak is delicious. Walking a horse for hours in the rain while crying is emotionally devastating but that pile of crap and nibble of expensive hay is better than gold. Missing out on competitions or events than run over worship times or feeling misunderstood and alone is difficult while here on Earth. But the heaven that God has promised us without pain or sadness sounds pretty amazing. The best part is that as we grow as farmers or Christians, we don't really miss being part of the world. We love crisp morning sunrises alone and potluck lunches after worship. We love the success of finally containing olympic goats and hearing all the parts of Amazing Grace when sung by a mass of hearts in singular focus. We love that when trees fall on the house, farming and/or Christian neighbors show up with chainsaws and tractors without being asked. We love that our family is not defined by blood. We stand apart, and I highly recommend it.